AfterDawn: News

Download music straight from your Digital Radio

UBC Media, owner of Classic Gold analogue and digital stations said it was investing in technology it hopes will make it possible for radio listeners to purchase a music download simply by pressing a button on their digital radio. The idea right now seems to be that listeners will be able to simply push a button to get a download of the song that is currently playing and pay a price that is competitive with online music download services like Apple's iTunes Music Store.

"We think it is a most compelling way to buy music, much more compelling than someone who gets an iPod and crawls all over the internet looking for music for it" said finance director Jenny Donald. "You are listening to the tune, you like it, it only costs about a quid and you can just push a button to download it." Whilst it seems like a good idea, to a music lover it might not be the best choice as this easy pay-per download approach could seriously spark some impulse buying.



UBC Media hopes to announce partners in the music and radio industries for the venture shortly. It will initially team up with just one radio station to test the service. The company has made a £400,000 investment in the possible service. However, whether or not they will be successful at encouraging listeners to purchase the music instead of just recording it from the radio will have to be seen.

Source:
Sky News

Written by: James Delahunty @ 13 Apr 2005 20:09

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• 3 comments

• Klezmorim

  Impulse buying? No doubt. That's just what the music industry would hope for. Here in the US, though, we already have an "all-you-can-download-for-one-low-price" option: satellite radio. Digital music for $12.95 a month (after you buy the special receiver) and, with TimeTrax or other, you can record the tunes as MP3s.

  14.4.2005 04:49 #1

• GrayArea

  This is the music industry's wet dream. A "Pay" button right there on the player. Kind of like the rat that gets a pellet of food each time it pushes the little lever in it's cage...
  The only thing that would make it even more "compelling" (for the cartels) is if they actually replaced the "Play" button with a "Pay" button. A record company exec's idea of heaven. PAY TO PLAY. EVERY TIME. That's the real goal.

  14.4.2005 07:35 #2

• BazNZ

  This is already happening for free! Try is freeware program RIPCAST 1.9 at http://www.xoteck.com/ripcast/ A great Streaming Radio ripping tool. Try it!

  14.4.2005 22:00 #3